BERLIN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- German carmaker Daimler AG on Friday reported a decline in its operative profits during the first quarter (Q1) of 2018.

According to the carmaker's figures, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were measured at 3.335 billion euros (4.027 billion U.S. dollars) in Q1, marking a decline of 12 percent compared to the same period last year. Analysts had predicted slightly higher EBIT of 3.4 billion euros.

At the same time, gross quarterly revenue grew by 3 percent to 40 billion euros. Although Daimler's profit margin within its core luxury passenger vehicle business rose ahead of that recorded by rival Audi (8.5 percent) to 9 percent, analysts had expected a stronger overall performance of sales.

Nevertheless, Daimler expressed confidence on Friday that its business remained on a firm footing in 2018. "We are continuing on our sustainable and profitable growth trajectory and have sold more cars during the first quarter than ever before," a statement by chief executive officer (CEO) Dieter Zetsche read.

Zetsche highlighted that the fall in quarterly profits was largely due to positive one-off effects worth 700 million euros recorded during Q1 2017. Despite disappointing quarterly figures, the CEO consequently raised his firm's profit target for 2018 by predicting that EBIT would rise above the previous year's annual level of 14.7 billion euros.

Daimler is hopeful that the fusion of its car-sharing platform Car2Go with the DriveNow platform held by rival carmaker BMW, as well as strong global demand, would propel profitability to new heights in 2018. The carmaker also expects revenue and sales to increase in tandem in the course of the year.